Biniam Girmay has won the tenth stage in the Giro d’Italia. In a sprint, after a stage over 194 kilometers, he was slightly faster than Mathieu van der Poel. He is making history just like he did fifty days ago.
The first hundred kilometers of the 194 kilometer long stage did not immediately invite you to make a race on paper, and that did not happen. Along the Adriatic coast, Alessandro De Marchi, Mattia Bais and Lawrence Naesen were given plenty of room by the pack to take the lead.
In the second part of the stage, Caleb Ewan had to release early when it got more hilly. At the same time, Richard Carapaz also drove from behind, who had fallen out of the cameras’ view and was sitting on the bike, battered. Van der Poel also did not have a flawless preparation for the final due to material problems, but the winner of the opening stage was able to rejoin the peloton after a short chase.
Alpecin-Fenix and Intermarché-Wanty Gobert made sure that with 25 kilometers to go, two of the three attackers were taken back. Only veteran De Marchi, winner of three Vuelta stages but never accurate in the Giro, managed to hold out longer. His adventure came to an end with twenty kilometers to go, which resulted in an almost complete rush for the last hurdle of the day, a four kilometer climb to Monsano.
Van der Poel colors final
Tobias Foss opened the ball on that climb, but the Norwegian champion was soon taken back by the men of Alpecin-Fenix. More attack attempts followed, except for an attempt by Alessandro Covi, which suddenly made things look good for Girmay. The winner of Gent-Wevelgem could count on the support of no fewer than three teammates in the thinned out group, although he almost made a mistake by steering straight on at a bend. It went well, after which Van der Poel tried it in the descent and got the revived Simon Yates, Davide Formolo and Giulio Ciccone with him. Van der Poel was left alone with four kilometers to go, but in the end kept his legs still because the gap was not big enough on the chasing peloton.
So it turned out to be a sprint. Girmay went from very far and seemed to be overtaken by Van der Poel, but the Eritrean fought back nicely and put Van der Poel on it. With a sporty thumbs up, the sporty loser Van der Poel was satisfied with a second place. Where he still labeled the 22-year-old rider as a ‘wheel patch’ last Friday, he was now like the chickens to congratulate him. Van der Poel also knew: he had just witnessed a historic victory. On March 27, he was the first black cyclist from Africa to win a classic (Ghent-Wevelgem), now he is the first dark stage winner in a big round.
Behind Girmay and Van der Poel, Vincenzo Albanese finished third. Wilco Kelderman finished fourth, Koen Bouwman took third place in the top ten with his sixth place. Juan Pedro López can start the flat eleventh stage again in pink tomorrow.
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